“Why don’t we give the kids another few minutes with the puppies?” Caidy said. “I’ve already saddled a couple of horses I thought would be a good fit.”
“Do I need to saddle Joe?”
“Nope. He’s ready for you.”
Taft grinned. “You mean all I had to do today was show up?”
“That’s the story of your life, isn’t it?” Caidy said with a disgruntled sort of affection. “If you want to, I’ll let you unsaddle everybody when we’re done and groom all the horses. Will that make you feel better?”
“Much. Thanks.”
The puppy on Maya’s lap wriggled through her fingers and waddled over to squat in the straw.
“Look,” she exclaimed with an inordinate degree of delight. “Puppy pee!”
Taft chuckled at that. “I think all the puppies are ready for a snack and a nap. Why don’t we go see if the horses are ready for us?”
“Yes!” Maya beamed and scampered eagerly toward Taft, where she reached up to grab his hand. After a stunned sort of moment, he smiled at her and folded her hand more securely in his much bigger one.
Alex rose reluctantly and set the puppy he had been playing with down in the straw. “Bye,” he whispered, a look of naked longing clear for all to see.
“I hear the kid wants a dog. You know you’re going to have to cave, don’t you?” Taft spoke in a low voice.
Laura sighed through her own dismay. “You don’t think I’m tough enough to resist a six-year-old?”
“I’m not sure a hardened criminal could resist that particular six-year-old.”
He was right, darn it. She was pretty sure she would have to give in and let her son have a dog. Not a border collie, certainly, because they were active dogs and needed work to do, but she would find something.
As they walked outside the barn toward the horse pasture, she saw Alex’s eyes light up at the sight of four horses saddled and waiting. Great. Now he would probably start begging her for a horse, too.
She had to admit, a little burst of excitement kicked through her, too, as they approached the animals. She loved horses and she actually had Taft to thank for that. Unlike many of her schoolmates in the sprawling Pine Gulch school district, which encompassed miles of ranch land, she was a city girl who walked or rode her bike to school instead of taking the bus. Even though she had loved horses from the time she was young—didn’t most girls?—her parents had patiently explained they didn’t have room for one of their own at their home adjacent to the inn.
She had enjoyed riding with friends who lived outside of town, but had very much considered herself a greenhorn until she became friends with Taft. Even before they started dating, she would often come out to the ranch and ride with him and sometimes Caidy into the mountains.
This would be rather like old times—which, come to think of it, wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
Since moving away from Pine Gulch, she hadn’t been on a horse one single time, she realized with shock. Even more reason for this little thrum of anticipation.
“Wow, they’re really big,” Alex said in a soft voice. Maya seemed nervous as well, clinging tightly to Taft’s hand.
“Big doesn’t have to mean scary,” Taft assured him. “These are really gentle horses. None of them will hurt you. I promise. Old Pete, the horse you’re going to ride, is so lazy, you’ll be lucky to make it around the barn before he decides to stop and take a nap.”
Alex giggled but it had a nervous edge to it and Taft gave him a closer look.
“Do you want to meet him?”
Her son toed the dirt with the shiny new cowboy boots she had picked up at the farm-implement store before they drove out to the ranch. “I guess. You sure they don’t bite?”
“Some horses do. Not any of the River Bow horses. I swear it.”
He picked Maya up in his arms and reached for Alex’s hand, leading them both over to the smallest of the horses, a gray with a calm, rather sweet face.
“This is Pete,” Taft said. “He’s just about the gentlest horse we’ve ever had here at River Bow. He’ll treat you right, kid.”
As she watched from the sidelines, the horse bent his head down and lipped Alex’s shoulder. Alex froze, eyes wide and slightly terrified, but Taft set a reassuring hand on his other shoulder. “Don’t worry. He’s just looking for a treat.”
“I don’t have a treat.” Alex’s voice quavered a bit. These uncharacteristic moments of fear from her usually bold, mischievous son always seemed to take her by surprise, although she knew they were perfectly normal from a developmental standpoint.
Taft reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of small red apples. “You’re in luck. I always carry a supply of crab apples for old Pete. They’re his favorite, probably because I can let him have only a few at a time. It’s probably like you eating pizza. A little is great, but too much would make you sick. Same for Pete and crab apples.”
“Where on earth do you find crab apples in April?” Laura couldn’t resist asking.
“That’s my secret.”
Caidy snorted. “Not much of a secret,” she said. “Every year, my crazy brother gathers up two or three bushels from the tree on the side of the house and stores them down in the root cellar. Nobody else will touch the things—they’re too bitter even for pies unless you pour in cup after cup of sugar—but old Pete loves them. Every year Taft puts up a supply so he’s got something to bring the old codger.”
She shouldn’t find it so endearing to imagine him picking crab apples to give to an old, worn-out horse—or to watch his ears turn as red as the apples under his cowboy hat.
He handed one of the pieces of sour fruit to her son and showed him the correct way to feed the horse. Alex held his hand out flat and old Pete lapped it up.
“It tickles like the dog,” Alex exclaimed.
“But it doesn’t hurt, right?” Taft asked.
The boy shook his head with a grin. “Nope. Just tickles. Hi, Pete.”
The horse seemed quite pleased to make his acquaintance, especially after he produced a few more crab apples for the horse, handed to him by Taft.
“Ready to hop up there now?” Taft asked. When the boy nodded, Caidy stepped up with a pair of riding helmets waiting on the fence.
“We’re going to swap that fancy cowboy hat for a helmet, okay?”
“I like my cowboy hat, though. I just got it.”
“And you can wear it again when we get back. But when you’re just learning to ride, wearing a helmet is safer.”
“Just like at home when you have to wear your bicycle helmet,” Laura told him.
“No helmet, no horse,” Taft said sternly.
Her son gave them all a grudging look, but he removed his cowboy hat and handed it to his mother, then allowed Caidy to fasten on the safety helmet. Caidy took Maya from Taft and put one on her, as well, which eased Laura’s safety worries considerably.
Finally Taft picked up Alex and hefted him easily into the saddle. The glee on her son’s face filled her with a funny mix of happiness and apprehension. He was growing up, embracing risks, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
Caidy stepped up to adjust the stirrups to the boy’s height. “There you go, cowboy. That should be better.”
“What do I do now?” Alex asked with an eager look up into the mountains as if he were ready to go join a posse and hunt for outlaws right this minute.
“Well, the great thing about Pete is how easygoing he is,” Taft assured him. “He’s happy to just follow along behind the other horses. That’s kind of his specialty and what makes him a perfect horse for somebody just beginning. I’ll hold his lead line so you won’t even have to worry about turning him or making him slow down or anything. Next time you come out to the ranch we’ll work on those other things, but this time is just for fun.”
Next time? She frowned, annoyed that he would give Alex the impression there would be another time—and that Taft would be part of it, if she e
ver did bring the kids out to River Bow again. Children didn’t forget things like that. Alex would hold him to it and be gravely disappointed if a return trip never materialized.
This was not going at all like she’d planned. She and Caidy were supposed to be taking the children for an easy ride. Instead Taft seemed to have taken over, in typical fashion, while Caidy answered her cell phone a short distance away from the group.
After a moment, Maya grew impatient and tugged on his jeans. “My horse?” she asked, looking around at the animals. She looked so earnest and adorable that it was tough for Laura to stay annoyed at anything.
He smiled down at her with such gentleness that her chest ached. “I was thinking you could just ride with me on my old friend Joe. What do you say, pumpkin? We’ll try a pony for you another day, okay?”
She appeared to consider this, looking first at the big black gelding he pointed at, then back at Taft. Finally she gave him that brilliant, wide heartbreaker of a smile. “Okay.”
Taft Bowman may have met his match for sheer charm, she thought.
“I guess that just leaves me,” she said, eyeing the two remaining horses. Something told her the dappled gray-and-black mare was Caidy’s, which left the bay for her.
“Do you need a crab apple to break the ice, too?” Taft asked with a teasing smile so appealing she had to turn away.
“I think I’ll manage,” she said more tersely than she intended. She modified her tone to be a little warmer. “What’s her name?”
“Lacey,” he answered.
“Hi, Lacey.” She stroked the horse’s neck and was rewarded with an equine raspberry sound that made Alex laugh.
“That sounded like her mouth farted!” he exclaimed.
“That’s just her way of saying hi.” Taft’s gaze met hers, laughter brimming in his green eyes, and Laura wanted to sink into those eyes.
Darn the man.
She stiffened her shoulders and resolve and shoved her boot in the stirrup, then swung into the saddle and tried not to groan at the pull of muscles she hadn’t used in a long time.
Taft pulled the horse’s reins off the tether and handed them to her. Their hands brushed again, a slight touch of skin against skin, and she quickly pulled the reins to the other side and jerked her attention away from her reaction to Taft and back to the thousand-pound animal beneath her.
Oh, she had missed this, she thought, loosely holding the reins and reacquainting herself to the unique feel of being on a horse. She had missed all of it. The stretch of her muscles, the heat of the sun on her bare head, the vast peaks of the Tetons in the distance.
“You ready, sweetie?” he asked Maya, who nodded, although the girl suddenly looked a little shy.
“Everything will be just fine,” he assured her. “I won’t let go. I promise.”
He loosed his horse’s reins from the hitch as well as the lead line for old Pete before setting Maya in the saddle. Her daughter looked small and vulnerable at such a height, even under her safety helmet, but she had to trust that Taft would take care of her.
“While I mount up, you hold on right there. It’s called the saddle horn. Got it?”
“Got it,” she mimicked. “Horn.”
“Excellent. Hang on, now. I’ll keep one hand on you.”
Laura watched anxiously, afraid Maya would slide off at the inevitable jostling of the saddle, but she needn’t have worried. He swung effortlessly into the saddle, then scooped an arm around the girl.
“Caid? You coming?” Taft called.
She glanced over and saw Caidy finish her phone conversation and tuck her cell into her pocket, then walk toward them, her features tight with concern. “We’ve got a problem.”
“What’s wrong?”
“That was Ridge. A speeder just hit a dog a quarter mile or so from the front ranch gates. Ridge was right behind the idiot and saw the whole thing happen.”
“One of yours?” Taft asked.
Her braid swung as she shook her head. “No. I think it’s a little stray I’ve seen around the last few weeks. I’ve been trying to coax him to come closer to the house but he’s pretty skittish. Looks like he’s got a broken leg and Ridge isn’t sure what to do with him.”
“Can’t he take him to the vet?”
“He can’t reach Doc Harris. I guess he’s been trying to find the backup vet but he’s in the middle of equine surgery up at Cold Creek Ranch. I should go help. Poor guy.”
“Ridge or the stray?”
“Both. Ridge is a little out of his element with dogs. He can handle horses and cattle, but anything smaller than a calf throws him off his game.” She paused and sent a guilty look toward Laura. “I’m sorry to do this after I invited you out and all, but do you think you’ll be okay with only my brother as a guide while I go help with this injured dog?”
If not for the look in Caidy’s eyes, Laura might have thought she had manufactured the whole thing as an elaborate ruse to throw her and Taft together. But either Caidy was an excellent actress or her distress was genuine.
“Of course. Don’t worry about a thing. Do you need our help?”
The other woman shook her head again. “I doubt it. To be honest, I’m not sure there’s anything I can do, but I have to try, right? I’m just sorry to invite you out here and then ditch you.”
“No worries. We should be fine. We’re not going far, are we?”
Taft shook his head. “Up the hill about a mile. There’s a nice place to stop and have the picnic Caidy packed.”
She did not feel like having a picnic with him but could think of no graceful way to extricate herself and her children from it, especially when Alex and Maya appeared to be having the time of their lives.
“Thanks for being understanding,” Caidy said, with a harried look, unsaddling the other horse at lightning speed. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“No need,” Laura said as her horse took a step or two sideways, anxious to go. “Take care of the stray for us.”
“I’ll do my best. Maybe I’ll try to catch up with you. If I don’t make it, though, I’ll probably see you later after you come back down.”
She glanced up at the sky. “Looks like a few clouds gathering up on the mountain peaks. I hope it doesn’t rain on you.”
“They’re pretty high. We should be fine for a few hours,” Taft said. “Good luck with the dog. Shall we, guys?”
Leaving Caidy behind to deal with a crisis felt rude and selfish, but Laura didn’t know what else to do. The children would be terribly disappointed if she backed out of the ride, and Caidy was right. What could they do to help her with the injured dog?
She sighed. And of course this also meant she and the children would have to be alone with Taft.
She supposed it was a very good thing Taft had no reason to be romantically interested in her anymore. She had a feeling she would be even more weak than normal on a horseback ride with him into the mountains, especially when she had so many memories of other times and other rides that usually ended with them making out somewhere on the ranch.
“Yes,” she finally said. “Let’s go.”
The sooner they could be on their way, the quicker they could return and she and her children could go back to the way things were before Taft burst so insistently back into her life.
Chapter Seven
With Maya perched in front of him, Taft led the way and held the lead line for Alex’s horse while Laura brought up the rear. A light breeze danced in her hair as they traveled through verdant pastureland on their way to a trailhead just above the ranch.
The afternoon seemed eerily familiar, a definite déjà vu moment. It took her a moment to realize why—she used to fantasize about a day exactly like this when she had been young and full of dreams. She used to imagine the two of them spending a lovely spring afternoon together on horseback along with their children, laughing and talking, pausing here and there for some of those kisses she had once been so addicted to.
Okay, they
had the horses and the kids here and definitely the lovely spring afternoon, but the rest of it wasn’t going to happen. Not on her watch.
She focused on the trail, listening to Alex jabber a mile a minute about everything he saw, from the double-trunked pine tree alongside the trail, to one of Caidy’s dogs that had come along with them, to about how much he loved old Pete. The gist, as she fully expected, was that he now wanted a horse and a dog of his own.
The air here smelled delicious: sharp, citrusy pine, the tart, evocative scent of sagebrush, woodsy earth and new growth.
She had missed the scent of the mountains. Madrid had its own distinctive smells, flowers and spices and baking bread, but this, this was home.
They rode for perhaps forty minutes until Alex’s chatter started to die away. It was hard work staying atop a horse. Even if the rest of him wasn’t sore, she imagined his jaw muscles must be aching.
The deceptively easy grade led one to think they weren’t gaining much in altitude, but finally they reached a clearing where the pines and aspens opened up and she could look down on the ranch and see its eponymous river bow, a spot where the river’s course made a horseshoe bend, almost folding in on itself. The water glimmered in the afternoon sunlight, reflecting the mountains and trees around it.
She admired the sight from atop her horse, grateful that Taft had stopped, then realized he was dismounting with Maya still in his arms.
“I imagine your rear end could use a little rest,” he said to Alex, earning a giggle.
“Sí,” he said, reverting to the Spanish he sometimes still used. “My bum hurts and I need to pee,” he said.
“We can take care of that. Maya, you sit here while I help your brother.” He set the girl atop a couch-size boulder, then returned to the horses and lifted Alex down, then turned to Laura again. “What about you? Need a hand?”
“I’ve got it,” she answered, quite certain it wouldn’t be a good idea for him to help her dismount.
Her muscles were stiff, even after such a short time on the horse, and she welcomed the chance to stretch her legs a little. “Come on, Alex. I’ll take you over to the bushes. Maya, do you need to go?”
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